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Wednesday, 23 December 2015

'Twas the Wednesday-before-Christmas Ramble . . .

“Q: [Is it] appropriate for an atheist to celebrate Christmas?A: “The secular meaning of the Christmas holiday is wider than the tenets of anyparticular religion: it is good will toward men... The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: ‘Merry Christmas’—not ‘Weep and Repent.’ And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form—by giving presents to one’s friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance… “The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has been commercialised. The gift-buying . . . stimulates an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in the creation of products devoted to a single purpose: to give men pleasure. And the street decorations put up by department stores and other institutions—the Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colours—provide the city with a spectacular display, which only ‘commercial greed’ could afford to give us. One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.”

“’...Green Party social development spokeswoman Jan Logie said international
evidence shows about 70 per cent of people seeking income support are in a
violent relationship..’”No, Jan. Your international evidence does not show
that.Typically dodgy claim from Green MP – LINDSAY
MITCHELL

If everyone living in somewhere zoned “medium-density” could all read this
submission, New Zealand’s cities could all be much better places.For a bigger Khandallah – Eric Crampton,
OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR

"Housing affordability can’t be solved under the status quo. There are too many vested interests in keeping house prices high. The capital losses required to make housing “affordable” relative to median household incomes around the country are too damn high."Housing affordability can’t be solved under the status quo - Brennan McDonald, JUST SOME THOUGHTS

"But anyway do you note how the tree is now magically up to 600 years old. Previously they only claimed it was 500 years old. But actually Auckland Council has said several arborists have said it is 150 to 200 years old – making it no different to probably tens of thousands of trees.
"The media just report the claims of 600 without scrutiny."The kauri tree that keeps getting older - KIWIBLOG

"Make a great gossip site and the readers of the world will beat a path to your online door! He did and they didn’t.
"Put Sean Plunket and Paul Henry back-to-back in the morning, and the punters will just keep on watching or listening. He did and they didn’t.
"Summon Heather du Plessis-Allan to your executive suite and impress on her the relationship between ratings for the new evening television show and her future employment prospects. He did and the cops executed a search warrant on her Wellington apartment."David Cohen on the troubles in the media landscape - WHALE OIL

"The origins of political correctness apparently go back nearly a hundred years where some claim it began as cultural Marxism. It only evolved into what is generally know as political correctness now in the last decade of two of the twentieth century..."Origins of Political Correctness - Pete George, YOUR NZ

“The free-speech wars of 2015 began in tragedy with the Charlie Hebdo
massacre, when Islamist gunmen murdered eight cartoonists and journalists and
four others at the Paris offices of that satirical weekly. The free-speech year
in the UK is ending in farce, with a Belfast pastor facing a possible jail
sentence for preaching the honest evangelical Christian view that Islam is
‘satanic’, and thousands demanding that the world heavyweight champion – of
pugilism, not philosophy – be blacklisted by the BBC for making homophobic and
sexist remarks.”2015: The Year we forgot what free speech
means - Mick Hume, SPIKED

“Unfortunately, Islamists aren’t the only ones who fundamentally oppose free
thought and free speech. On this point, they have intellectual allies in the
West, particularly among postmodern intellectuals and their fellow travellers.
Consider the following quote...”At the heart of the attacks on free speech an attack on
reason – Steve Simpson, VOICES FOR REASON

“Here at spiked, we like to celebrate the fruits of human endeavour.
Such life-bettering changes are the result of ingenuity, toil and an
unwillingness to accept our lot. They come from our unique determination to
master our surroundings and conquer nature.”The greatest human breakthroughs of 2015 –
Neil Ross, SPIKED

“Of the 75 political claims by Donald Trump during the current campaign that
have been vetted by the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact checking organisation
Politifact not one – not a single one – has been rated as ‘True’.”Not one of 75 Trump claims is actually true –
KIWIBLOG

“At the last Republican debate, the presidential candidates didn’t have many
positive things to say about immigrants or refugees. This could be because they
believe a lot of very inaccurate things about them. Here are the top five most
egregious things that the GOP presidential hopefuls had to say in the last
debate.”The Five Biggest Immigration Myths of the GOP
Debate – David Bier, ANYTHING PEACEFUL

“In questions of science the authority of a
thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single
individual.”~ Galileo Galilei

“The meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in
Paris was a revivalist convention full of factoid-laden stirring speeches.
Politicians, bureaucrats, NGOs and business lobbyists all competed to
demonstrate their “concerned” credentials. The outcome was an agreement to
impose higher energy costs accompanied by mutual backslapping with, for the
elite, selfie pictures with Al Gore.”Greenhouse policy after Paris: marching to
penury – Alan Moran, CATALLAXY FILES

"Is there any evidence of any 'accelerations' (or departures from long-term linear trends) in the rate of sea level rise?" Short answer: No. Longer answer: Hell no.Spectacular Sea Level Fraud From The IPCC - REAL SCIENCE

"The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom."~John Locke

“It sometimes takes a dose of national chauvinism for implications of poor
policies to sink in. So it is with the UK, where a sudden realisation that
France has overtaken Britain in home ownership rates has led to soul
searching.”Housing: the Tragedy of Planning Continues –
Alan Moran, CATALLAXY FILES

"To be a useful assistant in the running of a totalitarian state it is not enough that a man should be prepared to accept specious justification of vile deeds, he must himself be prepared actively to break every moral rule he has ever known if this seems necessary to achieve the end set for him."Why the Worst Get on Top - FA Hayek, THE FREEMAN

“Life involves risks. Sometimes we’re presented with dilemmas where each
choice involves a potential loss. But potential loss can also bring the
potential for gain. So, is it worth it?”“Homewrecker”: The Psychology of Affairs – Dr
Michael Hurd, LIVING RESOURCES CENTER

"Ask anyone to name the archetypal genius, and chances are it will be Ludwig van Beethoven. This is hardly surprising, as Beethoven largely created the image of what genius should be."Beethoven, Anguish & Genius - 3 QUARKS DAILY

"This blind faith in cancer screening is an example of how ideas about human biology and behaviour can persist among people -- including scientists -- even though the scientific evidence shows the concepts to be false. "Scientists think they're too objective to believe in something as folklore-ish as a myth," says Nicholas Spitzer, director of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind at the University of California, San Diego. Yet they do."The science myths that will not die - NATURE

"The crux of the complaints is that, rather than trying to cure the dying people whom she rescued from Calcutta’s streets, to better their condition and help them fulfil their potential, she merely provided basic facilities in which they could “die beautifully”, in her favourite phrase."How saintly was Mother Teresa, really? - INDEPENDENT (UK)Mother Teresa: Sadistic Religious Fanatic - PATHEOS

"So let me pick and choose from the above and add a few more elements to give you my take on the appealing transformation of Ebenezer: I give you the Scrooge the Aristotelian."Will the real Scrooge please stand up? - STEPHEN HICKS

"I turned 22 last Saturday and now that I am officially an old man who must look for a pasture to retire on/ride off into the sunset, I wanted to offer my thoughts on the 22 books that were most influential for me over the past few years and are those that I'd recommend to anybody before they turn 22."22 Books You Need to Read Before Turning 22 - Zac Slayback, ZAC SLAYBACK

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